Over the years, Debra Russell has had many conversations with people discovering coaching for the first time. These FAQs grew out of those conversations. Just click the question below to read the answer.
If you have questions that aren’t covered here, feel free to contact Debra Russell with your question.
- Is there something that you want in your life but you just can’t seem to make yourself do what needs to be done?
- Do you find you never have the time for what is really important?
- Are you working your hardest and doing what you see to do, but still not quite getting where you want to be?
- Or are you very successful in one area of your life and you want to shift your focus to become successful in another area to create more balance?
- Are you successful in your life, but want to raise the bar and get to the next level?
- A coach is a mentor – someone who believes in you and helps you create a big vision with exciting and inspiring goals;
- A manager – someone who assists you to form a manageable plan of action with accountability to move you toward your goals;
- A personal trainer – someone who trains you to create a structure, keeps you on the path to your goal and has you stretch a little bit more each week to build your strength and expand your reach;
- And a sports coach – someone who gives you feedback and insight that expands your thinking and improves your game.
- Career and Work,
- Finances,
- Quality of Life and Life Skills (including time management, finances and space organization),
- Relationships,
- Health and Wellness,
- Personal Growth or Emotional Intelligence.
While a coach may deal with some of the same issues as a therapist – relationships, confidence, etc. – the approach to these issues is completely different.
A therapist approaches an issue by exploring the sources of the problems and how they affect your life. A coach focuses on an issue by exploring solutions: ” How can you achieve the goals you have set in that area?”
When an obstacle surfaces in your pursuit of a goal a therapist might ask, “When was the first time you had this experience?” A coach might ask, “What are some ways you can get past this obstacle?” or “What is a different way that you can think about this experience? How can we use that to help you move forward?”
Both modalities are useful and may be appropriate depending on what your goals are. Debra Russell has often worked with clients in concert with a therapist. Combining the two modalities can create even deeper and longer lasting results.
A consultant is generally someone who has specific experience in a particular field. Based on that experience, a consultant is hired to look at a situation and offer specific solutions or programs for you. Then, generally, you are on your own to implement the solution.
Usually a consultant has a lot of personal experience in a particular industry and is able to give suggestions based on that experience. However, consultants are rarely trained as coaches.
These days many people call themselves coaches, but without training in the specific skill set of coaching, they are acting as consultants.
A coach is your partner. Together we explore and discover the ways to get you to your goals. Together we decide the actions for this week and together we discover the learning from the last week and use that to move you closer to your goal.
A consultant provides answers. A coach offers questions, explores the possible options and discovers the answers with you. A coach is with you on your journey to your goals and dreams.
You may go to a consultant to create a program and then hire a coach to support you in implementing that program.
Since many consultants are now calling themselves coaches – how do you tell the difference? Do they stay with you through the process? Do they help you to eliminate the blocks that stop you from moving forward? And most importantly, have they been trained and certified as a coach? If the answer is no, that person is a consultant, not a coach.
In order to achieve the goals you will set in coaching, you may have to do things differently. Doing things differently can feel uncomfortable, it can feel challenging. In fact, a primary role of the coach is to challenge you and to stretch you out of your comfort zone.
That’s what you want, right? To get yourself to the next level? There’s a saying, “If you keep doing the same thing, you’ll keep getting the same results.” But doing things differently can be confronting. If it were easy, everybody’d be doing it! Having a partner with you to support and encourage you as well as nudge you out of your comfort zone can make all the difference in the world!
Coaching also requires a serious commitment of time, energy, and resources. You are committing to the coaching sessions with your coach and to taking specific and possibly time-consuming actions in the weeks between your sessions to forward your momentum toward your goals.
Working with a coach is also rewarding and fun, taking on new challenges, achieving things you never dreamed were possible. And you aren’t doing it alone – you have a partner to bounce ideas off, to ask for support, to cheer you when you win and hold the vision for you when times are dark.
On average Debra Russell’s clients report levels of achievement and satisfaction above 90% after completing a minimum of six months.
The results you will experience from coaching will depend greatly on you, on your time and effort, on your commitment, and on your willingness to try new ways of thinking and new ways of doing things.
You have to be ready for coaching. This doesn’t mean having your ducks in a row. This means being open and available to try different things, to consider new ideas, to think about things differently, in essence to be coachable.
(This does not constitute a guarantee of your results. Individual results will vary.)